Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording method and an ink jet recording apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Ink jet recording methods enable recording on various recording media. Various inks, for example, inks suitable for recording images of photographic quality on glossy paper and inks suitable for recording documents on plain paper, have been proposed for each use to improve image quality.
Ink jet recording methods have also been utilized to record business documents including text and graphics on plain paper and are becoming increasingly useful in such applications. With advances in ink jet recording methods, there are demands for improved durability and reliability in long-term use and for higher productivity with an increased number of recorded documents. In order to satisfy such demands, a particular water-soluble organic solvent is added to an ink so as to improve intermittent ejection stability in various temperature and humidity environments (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-256599).
In order to increase productivity, the present inventors tried to increase the main tank capacity in an ink jet recording apparatus that includes a main tank as a main ink storage portion and a sub tank. It was confirmed that the addition of a particular water-soluble organic solvent described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-256599 to an ink tended to improve intermittent ejection stability and reliability. However, recording involving ejection of an ink containing a pigment for extended periods using a recording apparatus including a large main tank tended to cause gradually degraded image quality. Such degradation was not prevented with an ink described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-256599.